The opinions and practices of a mother of 9, striving to thrive in northwest Arkansas.
Olives are in reference to Ps:128:3: Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

Saturday, 19 April 2008

Horton hears a Who

Bob has joined a website that allows him to download movies, and last night he and I watched "Horton Hears a Who." I wasn't impressed. Don't get me wrong: the animation was great; it was funny in places; there was a feel-good element. But it really felt like it was written by a divorced father who was bitter about losing touch with his child(ren) due to his controlling ex-wife.

The main characters are Horton the friendly elephant; the mean, controlling, "if you can't see it, it doesn't exist," self-appointed boss of the jungle Kangaroo; and the Mayor of Whoville.

Horton hears a noise from a "speck" floating by, and soon discovers the speck houses the whole city of Whovile. There's a bit of faith-in-things-unseen dialog from Horton and the mayor. Turns out the Whos need Horton to save them by finding a safe place for the speck to stay. Horton is an honorable elephant, and he pledges his word. So that's all good.

However! Kangaroo is such a complete control freak that her joey is "pouch-schooled."

The mayor has 98 children, and though he and his wife are kind and loving, they treat the children to an assembly line of 14 second conversations each day, and obviously none of the children are individuals or having their needs met. This is seen as not too bad, because only the son has a problem with it - the girls all seem quite happy to be herded. But the son (yes, there's only one) is a goth. He is misunderstood. His father tries to (gasp!) impart vision to him, but it doesn't suit the boy to follow in his ancestors' footsteps.

Horton's pro-life statement is repeated "A person's a person, no matter how small" but [the messages were also given] be sure you don't have too many of them, and just in case you wondered, only a mean-spirited, fearful mother would homeschool.

About Me

I am the MamaOlive. We homeschool, the girls wear dresses, the boys wear long pants, I cover my head day in and day out. These are outward workings of our inner convictions that God is first, family is second, and everything else is details.